Shadow Study by Maria V. Snyder

Series: Soulfinders, Book One

Study, Book Four
The Chronicles of Ixia, Book Seven

Publisher: MIRA Ink

Format: Kindle

Published: 12^th March 2015

Number of Pages: 416

Book: ARC*

Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Paranormal, Magic, Romance, Mystery, Suspense, Action-Adventure, YA, YA-Adult Crossover

Recommended Age: 14+

Contains: Violence, Death, Swearing, Alcohol and Sexual References

Author's Site: Maria V. Snyder

Blurb From Goodreads:

Once, only her own life hung in the balance…

When Yelena was a poison taster, her life was simpler. She survived to become a vital part of the balance of power between rival countries Ixia and Sitia.

Now she uses her magic to keep the peace in both lands—and protect her relationship with Valek.

Suddenly, though, dissent is rising. And Valek’s job—and his life—are in danger.

As Yelena tries to uncover her enemies, she faces a new challenge: her magic is blocked.  And now she must find a way to keep not only herself but all that she holds dear alive.

                                                                   Review:

“Dead air surrounded me.

My magic was gone…”

When you miss your days as a poison tester, you know your life is crazy.

Yelena Zaltana, former poison tester for the Commander of Ixia, now Liason between Ixia and Sitia and powerful magician, is just looking forward to some quality time with her heart mate, Valek, when she is shot by a poisoned arrow.  Thinking she expelled all the poison before it had a chance to take effect, she leaves the hunt for her assassin to Valek.  

But she didn't get it all out.  And now her magic is gone, leaving her defenceless against a magical enemy she thought she'd defeated.

Meanwhile, Valek attempts to find Yelena's attempted-assassin, take down a smuggling ring (with the help of Janco and Ari) and also deal with a newcomer who is vying for his job.

Can Yelena save her own life, let alone the ones she loves, when she is deprived of the very thing that makes her strongest?

“Run and hide?  That was so not my style…”

When I found out Yelena's story would continue in a brand new trilogy, I freaked out; I was just so, so excited.  In fact, I did many a happy dance.  But when I got my hands on Shadow Study, I found myself a bit nervous, since I haven't actually read the Glass series yet.  I shouldn’t have worried: it didn't take long for me to figure out what had happened – and I'm sure I'll reread Shadow Study after I read the Glass series, so it doesn't matter much! 

But anyway: I was also worried Shadow Study wouldn't live up to the original series.  But I was, of course, wrong.  From the very start, it was all action and just as magical as ever – and we even had Valek and Janco chapters, two of my other fave Study characters!  Can I hear a HELL YEAH!

Yelena has grown up so much in the time between Fire Study and Shadow Study.  Not surprising, given the time that has passed, but she's matured a lot.  I love her – how badass and brave she is, even without her magic.  We got to see more of the human Yelena, the one who was cunning, Valek's student and who needed her friends – I liked that a lot.

Valek.  I loved learning more about Valek's past, about how he became Valek.  About why he makes animals form the black stone with silver specks.  About why he's so rational.   About how and why he became an assassin.  About how he was told to not feel, how emotions were weakness, but he's embraced them anyway because of his good heart, how he is so so caring.  It has made me love him even more – something I thought impossible.

Janco: oh how I love him!  He's my favourite soldier ever, my favourite comedic release in this suspenseful series.  He's also man after my own heart – not a morning person.  I get it, Janco.  "Bright sunlight, chirping birds and those obnoxious morning people" make my stomach churn too.  Seriously though, I am so in love with this bonkers, hilarious, brave soldier – as-much-as-I-love-Valek kind of love.

Now for our supporting cast.  First up Ari, who sadly we didn’t see as much of, but he was so brilliant when we did!  And Leif has become such a protective big brother!  He killed me at time – the boy has serious snark!  And little Fisk!  Not so little now – and such an entrepreneur!   Oh, and Reema killed me – the lines that kid came out with were amazing!  And then there’s Onora, who just intrigues me – I can’t wait to learn more about her, and I see a future love connection with my favourite little Janco (though does anyone else totally want Janco and Ari to be a couple?  Is that just me?  Just think – they could be Jaari or Arco or Janri: too cute!).

I must say, I loved this triple but linked storyline.  The way we followed Yelena, Valek and Janco made the action and suspense just nonstop and full on.  Of course, I occasionally wished it was easier to skip ahead on my Kindle – sometimes I just wanted to continue with the storyline I read in that chapter, because they were always left on cliffhangers!  Noo!  But seriously: loved it to pieces.  And that ending... Oh. My. Gods.  I need the next book – like right now.  Or, even better, yesterday!

And the writing: OH MY GODS, I love split POVs.  So so much.  I mean, we got to read daring quests from the perspectives of the lovely and kickass Yelena, the gorgeous and badass Valek and  the hilarious and brilliant Janco.  It was just so much awesome to fit into one book – and I loved it so much!  I've always loved Yelena, but it was so great to get to know Valek and Janco better!   And Maria is always so good at writing brilliant action scenes, scenes of comic relief and sparkling dialogue – and Shadow Study had all of these in spades!

I've said so many times and I'll say it again: I love this world!  I love Ixia and I love Sitia and I love the magic and the politics and the spying and the mad adventures.  I want to move here – live in Sitia with the Zaltanas, or live in Ixia and be one of Valek's spies.  I just love Maria's world building so freaking much and I can't get enough of this brilliant world she's created.  

Damn, I love this world, this series and these characters.  It feels so much like home – like one of my favourite places to be – and I'm so glad I get to spend even more time here.  Shadow Study managed to exceed every single one of my expectations and left me shaking for so much more.  I just... God, I loved it so much!  Maria V. Snyder is always amazing, always a true artist, but Shadow Study exceeds all the others in the Study series so far.  Night Study can't come quickly enough!

Star Rating:
5 Out of 5

Read this book if you liked:

Study Series by Maria V. Snyder

Throne of Glass and A Court Of Thorns And Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo

Happy Reading

Megan

* This book was received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

** Quotes used are from a proof copy and may have been changed in the finished book

Shadow Study Blog Tour: A Q&A With Maria V. Snyder

I adore Maria V. Snyder: she is one of my favourite authors ever. I freaking loved the original Study trilogy and was over the moon when I found out about Shadow Study! I was even more excited when I was asked to take part in the Shadow Study Blog Tour! Yay! So here is a Q&A with the amazing, lovely Maria V. Snyder! Enjoy! :D

Me: Shadow Study is the first in a new trilogy starring Yelena Zaltana.  What will this new series be about - and will it be as action-packed as the original trilogy?

Maria V. Snyder:  The new series will be about Yelena and Valek and will have chapters from both their POVs.  They are both dealing with various problems and issues.  Yelena is shot with a poisoned bolt and her magic is blocked so she’s searching for a cure while trying to keep ahead of her enemies who have learned she’s vulnerable. Valek is dealing with a young hot shot assassin who is trying to take his job as Security Chief.  His interactions with the assassin cause him to remember when he was a young hot shot so there are many details about Valek’s past in the first book.  The second and third books continue with both stories.  And of course there will be LOTS of action – I can’t write a book without it!

Me: What made you revisit Yelena and Valek? Did you originally plan to revisit the series? And what made you decide to have Shadow Study narrated by Yelena, Valek and Janco?

MVS: My readers are the reason I revisited Yelena and Valek.  They’ve been clamouring for more stories since Fire Study was published back in 2008 and I finally had an idea that I thought would be good enough for a novel.  I decided to switch between three characters because I really wanted to explore Valek’s past and that’s hard to do from Yelena’s POV.  Plus I was in Yelena’s head for 3 books and I wanted a change and a challenge.  I put in Janco’s because he’s such a blast to write, I couldn’t resist.

Me: Now, from your Study series, I of course love Yelena, Valek, Janco and Leif, but I think my favourite has to be Kiki!  Do you have a favourite character from this series?

MVS: I’d have to say Janco.  I just like his humour and cockiness and rants against sand.  I think with all the action and problems and bad things going on, Janco adds a bit of humour and a bit of a break for readers.

Me: You've created many worlds – magical and dystopian – which would you most like to live in and why?

MVS:  I’d live in Ixia.  I attended 12 years of Catholic school and never once minded wearing a uniform – it just made my mornings easier J.  I’d also like to think I’d be one of the Commander’s advisers or one of Valek’s spies and that sounds like fun.

Me: In the Study and Glass series, which clan do you think you'd most like to be a part of?

MVS: The Zaltanas.  I climbed trees when I was younger and just loved being up in the branches where no one could see me.  The thought of living in a huge treehouse….heaven!

Me: If you could have any magical power, what would you like to have and why?

MVS:  I’d want to be a healer like Avry.  I’ve so many friends and family members who suffer with various ailments and pain that I just want to be able to touch them and make them instantly better!

Me: What drew you to the fantasy genre and how do you come up with all of your amazing ideas?

MVS: I like reading fantasy and science fiction so writing in those genres was a natural thing to do.  I enjoy being able to go beyond the everyday world and incorporate magic or to take science to the next level in my stories.  I get ideas from everywhere – life is a sea of stories and I’ll spark on the strangest things—like a comment from my kids, or an article in a magazine, or when I’m travelling, or from a random conversation with a stranger on a train.  I dreamt the idea for Inside Out – yep in one night, I dreamt the entire story—characters, antagonists, world, and even the twists at the end.  I wish I could remember what I ate for dinner that night as that hasn’t happened again!

Me: How much research do you do for your books - I heard you're pretty hands on!?

MVS: I do quite a bit as I’m a stickler for accuracy.  If I’m going to have a horse in my book, then I’m going to learn everything I can about horses, including riding them.  Yes, I try to do as much hands on as possible.  I think that’s the best way to translate the experience to the reader and again, it’s great for accuracy.  I don’t want my readers to email me that I got something wrong about blowing glass or anything else.  Although the beauty with fantasy is I can create things in my world, but even then I must stay consistent.  The poisons in Poison Study are all created because I couldn’t find real poisons to do what I wanted them to do – my kids are still not talking to me for experimenting on them ;).

Me: What book are you most looking forward to in 2015?

MVS: Gail Carriger’s Prudence.  I loved her Parasol Protectorate series and this is the next generation.

Me: Finally, what advice would you give all aspiring fantasy authors out there?

MVS: Read a lot of books in the genre you’re writing and write a lot (every day if possible).  Also persistence is key!  Keep working on your story even when you think it’s terrible and has gone in the wrong direction.  So many people start writing, but then don’t finish.  If you wish to be published by a traditional publisher, then persistence will help you find one.  You need to keep sending out your story until you run out of places to send it!  That’s what I did with Poison Study and 57 rejections later, I found a publisher.

Quick Fire Round!

Pen and paper or computer?  Computer

Fantasy or science fiction?  Both

Reading or writing?  Reading (writing is hard!)

Scientific genius or Master Magician?  Master Magician

Favourite book of all time?  The Gate to Women’s Country, by Sheri S. Tepper

MVS: Thanks so much for hosting me on your blog. If your readers would like more info about me and my books, I have the first chapter of all my books on my website as well as a number of free short stories (including ones with Yelena and Valek) they can read.  Here’s the link: http://www.mariavsnyder.com.  My Facebook page is where I’m the most active with updates and news.  Here’s the link: http://www.facebook.com/mvsfans.

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Thank YOU, Maria! It's been lovely having you! Everyone, go grab yourself a copy of Shadow Study RIGHT NOW! It is AMAZING!  Grab it on Amazon, mark it To Read on Goodreads, just read it!  

And check out my co-host for the blog tour today, Becca from Lost In Thought.  Oh, and yesterday there  were two more stops to check out: Jess Hearts Books and Midnight Reads!  Enjoy!

Happy Reading Everyone!